Thursday, March 11, 2010

Entrepreneurs have historically been and remain in the main the innovators and trend-starters in the natural, organic and specialty foods product businesses in the United States.

In fact, were it not for entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial companies, we would not likely see the robust, and constantly growing, natural, organic, specialty, gourmet and ethnic foods industry that exists today in the U.S.

Entrepreneurs -be they chefs, farmers, former food industry executives and workers, ex-lawyers, accountants and doctors, or just plain people with ideas, were the first to create domestic natural, organic and specialty foods products in the U.S., often selling them directly to consumers to start, along with peddling their wares from store-to-store, door-to-door, talking retailers into putting the items on the shelves to give them a try, which is something that's still done in the business in varying degrees.

Entrepreneurial natural and specialty foods distributors, along with pioneering natural and specialty foods retailers and grocers, also played and continue to play a key role in creating and growing the natural, organic and specialty foods industries in the U.S.

It's been only since about the mid-1980's in fact when larger food companies became involved in the business in a significant way (with the exception of imported specialty foods), primarily doing so in the beginning by acquiring many of these entrepreneurial companies, which over the years grew into substantial businesses.

Today, natural, organic and specialty foods products, or packaged goods, of all kinds are big business. The products line the shelves of even the most basic supermarkets, and are sold in discount stores run by giants like Walmart, Costco, Target and many others, for example.

And of course, in many cases yesterday's natural, organic or specialty food product (or category) is today's mainstream or near-mainstream product or category.

For example, look at organic and premium/specialty coffee.

Just 15 years ago buying and drinking anything but Folgers or Maxwell House (plus a few other mainstream coffee brands) was considered something only the rich or elite consumer did in the U.S. Today, buying and drinking organic and premium coffee is something that cuts across all income and social class consumer lines.

What about olive oil and balsamic vinegar?

As recently as the early-to-mid 1990's in the U.S. (and mid-to-late 1990's in the case of balsamic vinegar) both products were considered niche, specialty items. Organic olive oil particularly was a super-niche item.

Today, olive oil - and to a lessor but very significant degree balsamic vinegar - are essentially mainstream products. Organic olive oil isn't mainstream at present, primarily because of its higher cost, but its much more than a super-niche item than it was just a few years ago.

The case history of natural, organic and specialty foods items that have moved from super-niche and niche to near-mainstream and even mainstream is extensive.

Entrepreneurs still remain the backbone of the U.S. natural, organic and specialty food product (we include beverages) industries. It's the start-up companies, and those in the small-to-medium range, where the majority of idea-generation and innovation remains today.

To celebrate this phenomenon - and some of the entrepreneurs leading this charge, particularly despite the bad economic times the U.S. remains in - starting today, and running until the end of March, Natural-Specialty Foods Memo is showcasing various natural, organic and specialty foods entrepreneurial companies on Twitter, at our www.twitter.com/NSFoodsMemo feed, which you can see in the top right hand corner of the blog.

If you go to our NSFoodsMemo twitter page linked above, look for the #foodentrepreneur hashtag on our tweets. Such hashtags are a way of allowing for a search on Twitter. For example, if you type in #foodentrepreneurs in the Twitter "search" box, all of our tweets, and those of any other feed using the hashtag, will come up for your viewing.

We will include all of the tweets in this post, adding them in real time. At the end of March this post will contain all of the #foodentrepreneur showcase tweets we make from today to March 31, 2010.

The Project

We're calling the project: "From Twitter to the Blog:The Natural~Specialty Foods Memo Natural, Organic & Specialty Food Entrepreneurs' Showcase," which is the title of this post.

As you click on the links on the tweets (below) about the various entrepreneurial food companies in this post and read about them, we invite you to comment, using the "comments" link at the end of this post.

We welcome comments about the companies, particularly if you've tried their products and have an opinion of them, but also in general - your views, opinions and analysis.

[Readers: If you know of an entrepreneurial natural, organic, specialty/gourmet or ethnic foods company (or individual) you think we should showcase in our project, feel free to send us the information at nsfoodsmemo@gmail.com. As much information as possible is requested, particularly a website address.

Of course, we reserve the right to decide if we showcase the company in a Twitter tweet and in the blog. Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/NSFoodsMemo

9 comments:

Tanka Bar is doing an awesome job in supporting Native Americans. I say this as a Native American who works in the retail grocery business. Hope my fellow grocers carry Tanka's products if they aren't already doing so.

The H20 Box is a phenomenal product. I personally like to drink loads of water, but hate carrying around a bulky canteen or purchasing plastic bottles. This product seems like the perfect solution. The fact that it biodegrades in 7 years is the best part since not everyone recycles.

The Blue Horizon products seem wonderful. They fill a tall order: sustainable, gluten-free products. Many of our products are gluten-free too and believe that those with Celiacs should enjoy food variety just as much as everyone else. Way to go!

Cavemen Cookies are available at www.cavemencookies.com, and a couple stores in NYC (Westside Markets in Chelsea, and Westerly's Natural Markets). Use coupon code "glutenfree" for 10% off online through May 16.

About Me

Natural~Specialty Foods Memo (NSFM) reports on, writes about and offers analysis, insight, and opinion on and about the natural-organic and specialty foods industries from multiple perspectives. You can e-mail us with comments, ideas, suggestions and tips at naturalspecialtyfoodsmemo@yahoo.com